Tapijtontwerp voor raam in het Noordertransept van de Dom te Utrecht c. 1868 - 1938

This is Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst's design for a window in Utrecht Cathedral, and it's like a puzzle, isn't it? He's working out how to divide light, how to make shapes sing together. I imagine Holst thinking hard, trying different things, maybe messing it up and starting again. You know, that dance we do with the materials, where the thing slowly emerges. The dark blues contrast with pale creams, a heavy outline defining each little world. Look at that one near the bottom right, with its semi-circle, like a rising sun. Holst’s design makes me think about Mondrian, but also stained glass windows and the way they filter light into cathedrals, bathing the space in coloured light. Artists are always talking to each other, even across time, borrowing and lending ideas. It’s not about right or wrong, but more like a conversation, a way of seeing that keeps changing as we add our own voices. We all bring something new, some uncertainty and it is amazing.